MilesFox

there is a seal for the shifter shaft. I changed one on a fwd 5spd, was easy enough, you drive out the roll pins on the shifter linkages to take it apart. The seal cross referenced to an 02 hond a civic, and was thicker than the subaru one(and in stock vs the soob when i bought it). i did this with trans out-of-car, but if you remove the shift linkages, the pitch stop bar, and let the trans drop down by removing the mount's bolts, you should be able to get at it easily enough.

although different years and models, i swapped a 5spd awd trans from a 93 legacy into a 95 legacy. 2 different gens, same gear ratio. was an exact fit. i used the 95's clutch and flywheel with the 93 trans

i had this problem on the crank snout of an ea82 sedan. I had replaced a seal that failed a week later. when i removed it, there was a gouge and a burr on the crank snout. I used a file to knock it down, and drove the seal about 1mm further in to miss the roughest part of the gouge. this held up from there. there was another time i did a seal, cant remember what it was, but the seal was so hard and dry that it made a groove in the shaft, and when i replaced the seal, i had to seat it past this little groove. you could get away with a file and seating the seal just right if you dont have to drive it in all the way and bottom it out. let the customer know both options(sleeve), and chose the one they would rather pay for, and what to expect from there.

fill the block with coolant by the upper radiator hose. the thermostat being at the bottom, is on the return side. if the block is dry, there is not enough coolant for the thermostat to open, even though the radiator is full. try holding open the revs as you add collant. bleeding out the air can be a 20 min process sometimes. if your temp gauge is fluctuating, sounds like an air pocket also, when the coolant is filled, look for bubbles in the radiator caused by exhaust blowing past the head gaskets. since you have become a pro at flushing the coolant, you may as well try a can of k&w block sealer (the liquid glass stuff) to seal a minor HG leak

to the comment about seeing the corners of the had gaskets... The original gasket has 3 layers, and the updated gasket has 4 layers. at least this is what i saw when doing 2.5 head gaskets. I was able to do the job for 250 bucks in parts, and another 225 for the timing belts. this included every seal except for the rear main and front crank. You shouldnt have to pay more than 1000 bucks for an honest mechanic to do the work if he doesnt rack you up on unnecessary labor. I just repaired a head gasket for 1025 bucks total, this included all the parts, and me driving 80 miles to yank the motor and bring it to my garage, and take it back to install

maybe you need a clutch adjustment? is it hard to get reverse gear too? i bet if yo shut the car off, it will go right into gear. there may be some drag on the clutch when pedal is engaged. you may have to tighten the clutch cable a few turns. if you find the cable is already tight, or too tight, the pressure plate may just be worn out(premature failure from overadjustment of the cable)

i wonder if you can fit ea82 pistons in the ej 18, say turbo or carb pistons, and go with ej22 heads and a turbo. sorry to hijack your question buts its an idea you may consider.

if you have ongoing moisture, or it gets soaked in war,mer weather, i have found that athleets foot spray will kill and prevent mildew smell in the car. just something to consider if your moisture becomes stale after a bit.

on top of what General disorder said, you can consider an impreza, 93-98 or so. the pre 96's may be fwd variants, though, AWD was standard, 96 and after, the 96-98 will have 2.2 engines and not be so subject to headgasket failures. You could probably find a good one in the 2500-3500 dollar range, and leave you change to spare. If you are going to be the one onder the hood of your daughter's car, an 1st or 2nd gen legacy or impreza would be a step up from the old school world, and a little easier to work on.

just use the ea82 hubs with the struts, they all fit together the same, you can use the whole ea82 strut/axle assembly. i think there might be some mix and match with the tie rods, if i can remember. if you are using the ea81 hub, you will have to adapt the ea82 strut, and use the ea81 cv end on the ea82 axle, since the seal is too small to fit an ea82 axle in an ea81 knuckle instead of lengthening the ea81 control arm, maybe you can hybris the 2, using the ea82 outer section on the ea81 inner section

if you can bear the cold, drive wit the windows down, crack open the rear ones at least, put on the floor heat, get some air moving through the car

Do the timing belts right away, and flush/change the coolant. You may want to consider a new radiator........ .................. .................. .................and don't boost it beyond 7 psi

the whining noise you hear might be the throwout bearing, relative to engine RPM

easy enough to fab yourself. the hardes thing will be finding m10x1.25 bplts long enough. You could fab part of the lift, and get pre-engineered partial kits for sale. you are basically doing a body lift and keeping the suspension geometry the same. the only difficult part to figure out is the strut tower and the angle of the strut to keep camber correct. You may have to extend brake lines, and you will have to make your own steering linkage extension

you *can* swap an ea82 control arm(85-94 gl, loyale, etc). You will have to enlarge the bolt holes on the pivot point of the tubular frame, and use the larger bolt. the 3 bolts on the side will line up the same. you will have to use the ea81 axles since the car is physically narrower than an ea82. I would recommend doing this in pairs so the car sits even. they are all the same, but some turbo models have swaybar mounts this is another option for you if you have to resort to it

what is the difference than beating the snot out of an old car. as it seems, the newer a car the more likely it will break:( I routinely beat the snot out of 200,000 mile cars, no clutch smells.

12 point socket is correct

plug in the green connectors to cycle the fuel pump. otherwise you want the fuel pump to come on for 2 seconds when you turn opn the key, and on any time the engine is cranking/running you will hear the pump and the relay clicking when the green test plugs are connected(for diagnosing, not driving) otherwise i suggest you remove the outer timing belt covers and go through the rotations to verify the timing belts are correct General Disorder is correct about stripping teeth. I have had this happen to me before, and it had me stumped until i cranked the motor, but did not see the belt move.

might i add that, when replacing an ea81 with an ea82, clearance to install the engine is gained by removing the distributor, install the motor, and reinstall the distributor to make clearance around the master cylinder. I have had to cut the mout tab off the right side of the disty and clock it all crazy for the vac advance to clear the MC

Is this an all of a sudden occurrence? temperature related(cold outside?) has the car been doing this or gradually getting worse? I would point to the temp sensor, as it will affect how the car runs when cold, or as it warms up another thing to look for, is under the hood, on the driver side firewall, you will find a pair of green connectors and a pair of white connectors. these are to be UNPLUGGED. the white ones are for pulling engine codes, and the green ones are for setting the ignition timing. if they are plugged in, the timing curve will not advance.

USMB members with stuff laying around the garage. that is your source seriously, though, unless you have a local yard, that is your best option next to ebay, and folks sometimes will give stuff away to not have to junk it

there are tools for removing valve springs with heads on-car. it may be tricky with the motor in the car, but you can still yank the motor to have better access. but then again, doing all that, its just the cost of head gaskets extra to pull the heads, and the time it takes to remove the intake. if i was you i would go with the original idea and pull the heads, new gaskets, etc. in 9 months, if somehouw you dont get to ej'n, at least you have a motor that is not annoying you, and can go into another car from there.

with my backwards motor, i noticed the AC bracket was missing bolts. that is because the holes for them was on the back of the passenger side head! i'm sorry i did not get a pic of my example. i was able to correct this motor and have it running and to drive away. aside from the backwards head, the oil pump was missing a bolt, the inner 0-ring (round) and the pressure relief check ball, as if it was maliciously pried out(maybe to give a higher oil p. reading?). the AC bracket was held on by the topmost bolt and the intake, and the little 12mm under the aqlt, and not any on the front. it was distorted from this, i almost could not bolt it on with the correct hardware. the intake gaskets were made of some cut-yourself paper gasket of some sort, with silicone. the intake gaskets (split out) from overtorque. there was a mixture ot red and clear silicone on the cam towers. totally ***'d motor.

look into the coolant temp sensor

any shop that can weld, cut, and bend raw lenghts of exhaust pipe should be able to fix you up for within 100 bucks your best bet is a local ma and pa type exhaust shop, not some corporate place that wants to sell you new parts for anything you bring them